Fishing Report
When is the best time to go fishing? Here in the north woods, every day is the best day. Our area contains a wide range of lakes with varied depths, shoreline structures, and a wide range of fish species. Seasoned anglers know success requires patience and a willingness to try different techniques. If you have a youngster in the group, they will most likely catch the biggest fish - it always happens. So, maybe no technique is a good strategy too. For those interested in learning about lake structure, water quality, or creel surveys, we encourage you to visit the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Lake Finder page. Area lakes will either be found in St. Louis or Lake County. Minnesota Fishing Regulations
July 23rd, 2024
Steven Renneberg — July 23, 2024
***Fishing Report***
Walleye - Walleye fishing continues to improve as anglers work out where the walleyes are and what they are biting on. Anglers are now finding walleyes working weedlines in 8-12ft of water. Here, gold, perch, and orange or chartreuse spinner rigs tipped with a leech or a crawler have been very effective. Windswept rock piles and rocky shorelines have also been a popular choice. Depth out here remains the same, 8-12ft, with some of the bigger walleyes just off the edge of the structure. Here too, spinner rigs, jigs with a leech or crawler drifted over the top have been very effective. Reports of anglers catching walleye off their docks have also been coming in, but the majority of these walleyes have been small.
Smallmouth—Smallies have settled into their classic mid-summer spots. Anglers are finding them around large boulders along shorelines with spinnerbaits, in-line spinners, and soft plastics. The early morning topwater bite continues to be effective for early morning risers. As the sun gets up, that bite cools off quickly.
Panfish - Sunfish and crappies continue to be found working weedlines and inside weedbeds. Big gills are almost being found exclusively inside the thickest weeds you can find. Small worms or wax worms, fished under a bobber, have been very effective in finding them and catching them. Crappies have been a little more scattered, but are mainly being found just outside the weedbeds during the day, then as the sun goes down, they push into the weedbeds. Search baits like beetle spins and jigs/twisters have been very effective in finding and catching these crappies.
Pike - Pike anglers have been reporting good numbers of quality size pike being caught, but large pike (30” +) have been somewhat few and far between. Anglers have been throwing large spoons, spinnerbaits, crankbaits and buzzbaits for pike, mainly along weedlines, river mouths and the mouths of bays, in 8-15ft of water.
Stream Trout - Rainbow trout have been very active on area lakes. Limits of nice rainbows are being caught trolling cowbells, tipped with a small crankbait, or spinner tipped with a crawler. Anglers fishing from shore have also been getting limits of rainbows fishing a night crawler under a bobber, about 5-10 feet down. Evenings have been the best time for this bite.
Lake Trout - Lake Trout anglers have been reporting catching good numbers and size lakers trolling with trolling spoons behind a down rigger. Anglers should watch for the thermocline on their depth finders and position their baits very close to it. Open water trolling has been the most effective as of late.